The role of technology in COVID-19 pandemic

Since the beginning of the pandemic, national governments and health authorities have adopted heavy restrictions in order to respond to the COVID-19 health emergency. As a consequence, fundamental rights and individual freedoms were significantly constrained. In parallel, multiple attempts were made to shift our lives towards a ‘digital transition’. In such a context, information and communication technologies undertook a fundamental role in reshaping quantity, quality, and meaningfulness of our social and professional relationships. This papers analyses the most relevant ethical, legal and social issues posed by the use of these technologies for managing COVID-19 pandemic by clustering them into three groups: (i) the attempts to digitalise healthcare delivery, (ii) the weight of digital divides in ensuring equitable access to healthcare, and (iii) and the (e)merging logic of healthcare and control, which is legally and socially legitimised on the grounds of public health protection.